Odd One Out
by Umbra Trueflame
Summary: Nick and Judy are tasked by Chief Bogo to catch a vigilante with a very rapid kill rate. They have 48 hours to find and report any and all info before the chief decides to make any rash decisions. Meanwhile, Nick has been trying to help his friend, Jake, get over his very hurtful social anxiety built up from a history of bad relationships and the military.
1. Chapter 1: Brief Encounters

**A/N: This is my first Zootopia Fanfiction. I haven't been on this site since around 2010 writing Kingdom Hearts fanfics, but it feels good to be back and get the creative juices flowing. I really hope you like this story, leave any comments or criticisms and I'll be sure to get to them whenever possible. Most of the weapons and motions that the main character exerts comes from the U.S. Army Infantryman standards. Weapons it talks about are AR-14/M4, M1911, KA-BAR, Tomahawk. Pretty easy to imagine. Wooden armor stand is commonly used on deployments. Google image to get a better representation. Anyways, enough about the specifics, let's get to the story.**

 **Obviously I don't own Zootopia, it's owned by Disney! Duh!**

 _Another day, another hundred mammals of reckoning._ That was the only thought that strung through the artic wolf's mind, as he stood motionless by the door.

"Jake, could you come here please?" the innocent female gazelle's voice called.

Swiftly, the wolf opened the door and protruded inside. He quickly snapped to attention and leveled out to parade rest. The gazelle sat in her stool as she applied the final touches of makeup in the mirror.

"Are you ever going to give that a rest, Jake?" asked the gazelle as she brushed back her hair.

"No mam, but I always considered it a reason you keep me around", said Jake.

The wolf was sure to keep his eyes just above her gaze and his hands crossed in the small of his back. It was only a natural reaction for this former soldier.

The gazelle gave a soft giggle, "You know I keep you around for far more than that, Jake. Where would all the excitement be in any of our conversations?"

Jake sharply responded, "Somewhere over the rainbow."

The quick-witted response caused the gazelle to laugh hysterically and was finally able to calm herself after a few minutes. Suddenly there came a knock on the door.

"Ms. Gazelle?", a voice was heard beyond the door, "Five minutes until showtime!"

Gazelle looked at the clock above the mirror and gasped.

In a rush, she informed Jake, "I was going to tell you that my friends, Judy and Nick, are coming by during the show and they'll be relieving you for tonight while I'm onstage. They wanted to come to the afterparty tonight and you're welcome to join us if you decide to stick around this time."

Jake was quiet for a few moments. He was not one for parties, nor most types of social gatherings. It simply wasn't his forte'. With a social anxiety as bad as his, he knew he was better off doing his job and going home.

"No thank you mam, but I appreciate the offer. Thanks for telling me about the relief though, it helps to know these things ahead of time", Jake replied very monotone.

Gazelle rolled her eyes, "I'm sure it does since I still remember the last time I didn't let you know someone was coming by to see me."

Jake stood expressionless, but in his mind, he was giving the worst pouting face ever conceived.

"Time to get the show on! I'll see you tomorrow, Jake", said Gazelle as she casually strode out the door.

The wolf idled his way out the door and resumed his guarding position outside. He knew there wasn't much to guard, aside from Gazelle's personal belongings in her room, so he let his stance ease up just slightly.

"God, I need a cigarette!" he muttered to himself.

Smoking IS a bad habit, but he already knew that. Sometimes he just needed the edge off his mind from time to time. In a way, Jake envied Ms. Gazelle. Aside from her being a huge pop-star icon, she had the looks, the style and even the friends. Most of his friends were either far away or dead. Time in the service would do that to any mammal, make quick friends and lose them just the same. He was then brought back to reality when he heard soft footsteps and another pair of scraping footsteps beside it coming from down the hallway. A quick glace revealed it to be the famous Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde.

"What's up, Nick!" Jake blurted out.

"Hey Snowflake", responded Nick, "we're here to steal your job away from you, per Gazelle's orders."

Jake gave Nick a very menacing glare in response to his nickname given by the slick red fox.

"Oh and perhaps maybe I should inform Chief Bogo about his two best officers stealing", shot Jake.

Nick snarked and continued, "Chief Buffalo Butt wouldn't bother to even answer the phone to save his life while he's here at the Gazelle concert."

Judy decided to butt into the conversation before Jake's mood shifted.

"So are you coming to the afterparty?" Judy asked.

Jake shook his head, "No thanks guys. I really do appreciate it, but it's not really a place where I would want to find myself. I just don't blend in very well."

"Well carrying all that gear around, I'm sure you won't", Nick laughed.

Jake glanced down at his attire. His uniform was simple for most security jobs: black cargo pants, grey t-shirt, black short sleeve button-up over-shirt. However, that wasn't what Nick had pointed out. He had motioned his hands to point the matching black Kevlar plate carrier and his two firearms.

"How does Gazelle even let you do this job with you dressed like you're about to go to war?" asked Judy.

Jake grinned and gave a wink, "She just knows that I'm good at my job and the pleasant conversations we have make sure that she knows I'm not insane in the membrane."

"Well, I suppose that's good and all, but do you really need to carry an assault rifle along with your sidearm?" Judy asked puzzled.

"It's not loaded, it's just for show", he replied.

Nick gave him a pat on the shoulder, "Ah come on Jake, we would love for you to come with us to the party. I'm sure we could even find you some nice young single mammal to talk to."

Jake gave a couple of laughs and stated, "I'll see you later, guys."

The deep clomping of his boots could be heard as far down as the exit to the building before the sudden sound of the metal hatch door opened and slammed shut.

"I wonder what he does when he goes home. I mean, I never see him around during patrols and anytime we do run into him, he just goes home and disappears", said Judy.

"I'm sure it's none of our business, Judy", said Nick, "but I'm sure he doesn't just sit around in the dark back at home in some flimsy chair brooding about the rest of the world."

Judy giggled, "Did you really just read my thoughts, Nick?"

"Only if you let me get to say ' **Jinx** ' for thinking what I was thinking!" Nick blurted.

Judy scoffed, "Hey! No fair, I had to suffer through a whole extra pile of paperwork from the last time we played with the Jinx game!"

Nick smirked and chucked, "Alright then, Carrots. You win, no more of it."

Judy grinned, "What would you have asked me to do anyways?"

Nick placed a paw to his chin in thought. He scratched a bit and finally let loose his idea.

"I would've had you call Jake back and make you wear his boots", Nick chucked.

Judy winced at the idea, "What?! Why?!"

Nick was near the point of laughing uncontrollably as he continued to ponder the idea.

"Because I would make you strut runway style down the hallway and watch you stumble all the way there!" Nick began to laugh.

Judy shook her head, "Ha Ha! You would have felt bad if I stumbled and sprained an ankle."

Nick wiped away a tear and calmed himself, "Well, yes. I didn't think of that part, but at least we don't have to see either of those things happening."

"Still is odd though", Judy swiftly remarked.

Nick gave a confused notion, "Yeah, it is odd about where he disappears."

"No not that", Judy retorted, "The fact he as a wolf wears completely covered boots!"

Nick nodded his head in understanding. Not many ever wore shoes and even if some mammal did, they typically had the toes exposed. However, Jake wore a militarized pair of black steel toed boots.

"I still wonder if he runs as fast in them as I remember", said Nick.

"What do you mean?" asked Judy.

Nick remembered and began to explain, "When I was still a very young hustler all he could think about was joining the military and how fast he could run in those boots. He was able to run amazingly fast from what I remember."

"How long have you two been friends?" she continued to question Nick.

Nick tilted his head and tried to remember, "Hmm…about 7 years now. Since he's out of the military now, we're finally able to see each other more often, but with this job that we've thrown on to him, he's really turned into a loner."

Judy giggled, "You mean the job that YOU threw at him, Slick!"

Nick shrugged with raised paws, "Hey, what can I say? Better than him being unemployed still or him becoming homeless."

"Was he really doing THAT bad before?" she persisted.

Nick grimaced, "Carrots, you don't even know the half of it. After he got out of the service, finding work was hard and decent pay was harder. He was unemployed for two months before he came back my way asking to help with my hustles, but of course YOU fixed that problem."

Judy nodded, "Darned straight I did!"

"Well after he found out I was a cop now, he was so close to hitting the point of no return that I just had to think of anything to try and get him out of his hole. The only thing that hit me was to go see Finnick and surprisingly enough, he had a gig that involved Gazelle", Nick continued.

"Since when was Finnick into Gazelle?" Judy winced.

"I think they used to be drinking buddies or something", said Nick.

She giggled and said, "If I ever heard one of Gazelle's songs blaring out of Finnik's van, I would roll around and die laughing. He just doesn't strike me as a mammal who is into her kind of music."

Nick chuckled along, "Trust me, Carrots, you're not alone with that thought."

Whilst the bunny and fox humored themselves outside of Gazelle's room, Jake finally made his way home. The Grande Pangolin Arms wasn't much, but it was simple and had all the necessities. Best part of all, IT WAS CHEAP! His red eyes fixed on the door to his apartment. After a long day of guarding a VIP and climbing all the stairs to get to the top floor of the building, he could use a rest. He turned the key and made his way inside the very cold room.

 _Finally feels great to be in this cold room after sweating my tail off with the humidity outside. It just HAD to choose to rain today in Savanna Central!_

He reached under his bed and pulled out two gun cases for his rifle and pistol, placed them inside and securely locked them both. After he placed them back under the bed, he removed his plate carrier and boots and sat them on a wooden armor stand. He wouldn't need them anyway with his next soon-to-be task.

"Two hours….and then we hunt!", Jake whispered under his breath.

Briskly, he removed his clothes and sat them on the desk chair, ready to be used again momentarily. As quickly as the arctic wolf had shut his eyes, he awoke to the buzzing alarm that read 01:05.

 _No dreams, I guess that's some good news about very brief sleep._

Jake stretched and jumped back into his clothes, but reached under the bed again for a knife and tomahawk. He made sure to attach them to his belt before he synched it down tight. After he laced his boots, he opened his window and climbed onto the roof. The top floor had its advantages; easy access to the roof being the first. Once on the roof, he leaped onto the nearby roofs of other buildings until he was near a few back alleys surrounded in darkness. He then gazed at the darkness below him and pulled out his knife and tomahawk.

"Go on ahead, make a stupid move somebody! I dare ya!"

 **08:47  
Z.P.D. Headquarters**

All the officers sat around in the bullpen, casually going about their daily routines. Some gossiped over getting lucky the night previous, some about the Gazelle concert, a few about rival football teams and one conversation about something to do with cheese.

"Why did we stay up so late?!" said Nick with his face flat on the table.

Judy, holding her head in pain, replied, "Because the booze was free and Gazelle and Finnick started playing Cards Against Mammality."

"How many other mammals were there at the afterparty again?" a hungover Nick asked for remembrance.

"A few hundred, I think?" Judy guessed.

Nick groaned at the number because it felt as if the noise around him was the same as it was only hours ago at the afterparty. Suddenly the conversations were broken by Higgins' call of "Attention". Every mammal in the room erupted into their usual shouting and howling, which gave the small duo both a quick throbbing jolt to their heads.

"Alright! Everybody sit! SHUT IT!" Bogo shouted.

Everyone in the room sat and silenced themselves like clockwork.

"I've got 3 items on the docket today! First: Wilde! Hopps!", shouted Bogo.

Both mammals immediately recovered from their haze and stood upright at attention.

Chief Bogo took a deep breath and calmly spoke, "Good game of Cards Against Mammality last night! Had me rolling!"

Everyone in the bullpen immediately laughed hysterically at their notion of preparing to get chewed out by the Chief, with Nick and Judy soon following along.

Nick added, "You know I had you, Sir, when I played the card about the Ferris Wheel full of-"

Bogo cut him off, "Not during shift, Wilde! Or EVER for that matter!"

This earned him another slew of chuckles behind Nick.

Chief Bogo continued, "Second: It's still calling for rain over Savanna Central for the next week. Who cares! Third: We have a report of some vigilante killer right here in our own precinct and I want him gone yesterday so that City Hall doesn't come riding up my tail wondering why he's on the loose!"

There was a shift in the air inside the bullpen at the chief's last statement. A murder case or two is usually handled by the regular detectives, but a reported vigilante that is getting called to be investigated by regular cops is something that is nowhere near normal. Some of the bigger mammals shifted in the chairs, some stood up still and stiff as a board.

"Assignments!" Bogo shouted, "Officers Grizzoli, Fangmeyer, Wolford, you patrol Sahara Square."

Nick drowned out the booming noise that was Bogo's voice by rubbing the aching temples on his head. The hangover started to creep its way in and hit him like a freight train. When he put his paws back down, he noticed everyone else had left and received their assignments, aside from his favorite rabbit officer next to him.

"And finally, Officers Hopps, Wilde, your assignment is to bring this mammal above the law back down to my level! Find him, make the arrest, but avoid DIRECT approach", Bogo informed his young officers.

Judy attentively responded, "Yes sir! We'll do our best to bring him into-"

"I'm stopping you right there, Hopps! I appreciate the enthusiasm, but this isn't your typical 'one man thinks he's above the law' cases that the detectives usually get swarmed with! This is worse than either of you are thinking!" Bogo interrupted.

Nick asked, "What exactly is making this so bad that the regular officers need to be called in to do detectives work again?"

Chief Bogo huffed and bluntly continued, "Due to the fact that this single mammal was able to murder six mammals in a timespan of two hours and across twelve city blocks, without even using any guns! We know it's the same mammal as well from the wounds on the victims. And here's the icing on the cake; all of the victims are all small-time gang lieutenants from around Savannah Central!"

Judy sighed, "Oh sweet cheese and crackers…."

"I'll expect more info about this in the next two days, today included!" said Bogo and he stormed out of the room and throwing the case file to the duo.

Judy and Nick looked at each other, then down to the case file, then back to each other and again at the file.

"Looks like we got our work cut our for us, as usual, Fluff", Nick stated with a sigh.

Judy shook her head and nonchalantly added, "Don't we always?"


	2. Chapter 2: One More Thing

**A/N: Tried to get this chapter out a few days sooner, sorry it took awhile but I'm looking for a job, it's stressful. Aside from that, I thought I'd talk about the names of these chapters and their significance. Apart from the first chapter, every name of the chapters starting from this one are named after songs that are to represent what the chapter is about. In this chapter, the song is "One More thing" by "Kevin Fly". I had a nightmare once while listening to this song in my sleep. While I won't go into details, I'll explain that it was a song that made me think of this big action sequence and I just wasn't sure how to put it out there. Hopefully this will be a good read for you as it was for me typing it. And by all means, listen to the song whilst the action happens near the end of the chapter(play it when the fountain scene appears).**

The moist putrid air of the sewers invaded Jake's nostrils, as he made his way down the dark alley. Since his successful hunting session last night caused a bit of an uproar for the police, as he knew it would, Jake figured he had to leave out a trail to lead the authorities away.

 _The less of a trail I leave here near home, the less of a chance I have of getting caught._

Jake had to think of something to get the famous detective duo off his heels. From all the stories they told him about the Nighthowler case, he knew how efficient the rabbit and fox could be.

 _Sahara Square would be an easy place to start. It's the closest district to Savanna Central and I'm sure the gang lords there are a bit uneasy from hearing a few of their rivals got whacked by some random psycho._

Finally, he made his way out of the dank alley and back onto the cracked sidewalk, as he spat behind him back into the horrid direction where he came.

 _First, a change of color, I do miss my old team colors. Just need to find that damned green shirt._

As he hiked up the stairs back to his apartment, Judy bumped into him on the stairs and took the opportunity to have some conversation to get her mind off her assigned case. Jake could tell she wasn't having it easy, as she was rubbing her right temple with her paw.

Judy finally gazed up at Jake and asked, "Oh hey, Jake. How is everything going with Gazelle?"

Her question was one of sincerity, but one still that Jake knew was just make small talk. He knew Judy and himself don't talk privately and figured she must be trying to either kill time or try to pursue his personal life.

After a few frozen seconds, he answered, "She's just fine, but rather exhausted after the last night's show."

Judy released her soft paw from her head and stretched, letting out a yawn that she had been holding in.

"Good to hear, but I hope she's not too tired to sing at the charity ball next month. I wouldn't want to miss that show for all the parking duty at the Z.P.D., if you catch my drift", she added.

Jake rolled his eyes and tried to come up with a quick-witted response to get past the enthralled bunny near his knees.

"I don't mean to hold you up from your work, Officer Hopps. I'll just get out of your way", he stated and tried to move away.

Judy shrugged and gave a small giggle.

"You're perfectly fine, Jake. Trust me, I actually don't mind just standing here for a while and talking. With this new case Nick and I got put on today, we've been running all throughout Zootopia itself trying to look for leads and came back with next to nothing", she spoke with malevolence.

There was a pregnant pause between the conversation, as Jake stood firm and thought to himself.

 _So, no one has caught on to anything yet? That's great! Just makes it so much easier to pick an area to target next._

Judy snapped her paw in front of Jake's eyes and got his attention.

She broke the silence, "Everything alright, Jake? You seem like you're out of it?"

Jake shook his head and blinked rapidly; his mind continued to come back to reality.

He responded, "Yeah, I'm fine Judy, thanks. I think I'm just a bit tired is all. I haven't slept well in a while."

Judy patted his shoulder and nodded, "Well if you ever want to talk about anything at all, let me know. I haven't really gotten to know you, aside from what Nick has told me and even that's not much."

Jake gave a quick and friendly nod before he continued up the flight of stairs. He chose to say nothing to Judy for it just felt it as unnecessary. Females were the enemy after all, at least in his mind.

 _Damn her, all she wants to do is get close, yet she wouldn't even BEGIN to understand how in the world I feel about females. All they have ever done is just get close to me and then run off to someone else. Kind of figures that most all women do that. Seems they just all want to take male's hearts and break them._

When Jake arrived on the top floor and treaded down the hallway to his door, he did his entire best to look inconspicuous as possible. He yawned, scratched his read end, acted as if he was exhausted and ready to take a snooze. However, this was only his way of cover. Any other mammals in the hallway would just merely see a tired wolf coming off of his job and going to bed. As soon as he entered the cold darkened room, he locked the doors and silently made his way to the bed.

 _At least my cover isn't TOTAL bullshit, I'll at least get some sleep._

He glanced at his nixie tube alarm clock and noticed the electrified red numbers read: 21:37

 _Four hours of sleep, enough for the body to function. Better than none I suppose._

 **01:25  
Sahara Square: Behind Elephant Ice Cream parlor**

Three mammals lie in wait in the shadowy brick alley. They were petty dealers who worked for one of the three top gangs in the district. They thoroughly kept their gaze at the slow burning fire that crackled in the rusty barrel.

One of them, a tiger, mumbled, "Boss says to keep everything low key now since last night. Butch got done in last night, his throat sliced and lots of blunt wounds. Like someone beat him with a bat until they got bored and knifed him."

"Jesus!" the weasel beside him said, as he rubbed his throat, "That's a real shitty way to go, bro!"

"No kidding and thanks to that, it just made dealing even harder. Cops are one thing, but some junked up crackpot killer on the loose? Now that is something I don't think anyone was ready for", the tiger said, as he placed his paw to his head.

The third mammal, a zebra, broke his silence, "He just got lucky! He just had the advantage of surprise. Nobody would've thought some homeless psycho mammal would wound up killing 6 higher ups over the district!"

The weasel winced and quietly tried to shout, "Keep your voice down, bro! You trying to bring him here?!"

"RELAX!" the zebra said lazily, "That was miles away in another district. He's their problem, not ours. Let the damn cops catch him!"

The tiger replied, "You think he won't travel?"

The zebra rolled his eyes at his two companions and huffed. All of this talk just seemed to be wasting time whilst other dealers would probably be making money.

The zebra said, "No, I don't think he would. Unless he's THAT desperate to get himself killed, I doubt he would-"

The zebra caught the shadowy image of a mammal that leaned against the brick wall behind the three. His leg perched on the wall, his other kept him standing.

"Looking for a fix?" the zebra called out to him.

Slowly the mammal pushed off the wall and walked forward. The heavy pawsteps could be heard, but they sounded like very heavy hooves. It wasn't until the figure was near the glow of the fire that they saw an arctic wolf with an axe and a knife.

"Maybe!" Jake responded in a hoarse voice.

 **09:45  
Z.P.D. Headquarters**

Judy typed at her keyboard faster than normal. She was more determined to catch this vigilante more now than she had been yesterday first given the case.

"Woah Judy, you're going to make the keyboard catch fire if you keep typing so rapidly!" Nick commented.

Judy rolled her eyes and sighed. She adjusted herself in her chair and continued to type at a very eccentric pace.

"Nick", Judy said, "I'm not in the mood for your smart mouth today. Did you forgot the fact that this vigilante killed twenty-one more mammals?"

Nick sat up in his chair and readjusted his tie. Indeed, he had forgotten that today was no joking matter. Their criminal had pretty much mocked the police's incompetence by tripling his kill ratio last night. The only solace that came to Nick's mind was that at least they weren't innocents.

"Do you think he's right, Judy?" asked nick with a worrisome tone.

Judy's ears shot up at the sound of his question.

Judy turned around in her chair and asked, "Did you really just ask that, Nick? You do know that WE ARE OFFICERS!"

Nick winced at Judy's backlash. He already knew something like this would happen.

"I know Judy, I know. It's j-just that these victims weren't innocent. They were gang members, some of them were murderers", said Nick.

Judy shook her head, "Murder doesn't negate murder, Nick!"

"Some of them were rap…. rapists!" he struggled.

Judy shuddered in her chair at the last word.

She took a breath in and finally released its warm air, "While I don't show any mind towards the criminals, they still don't deserve sudden death through a vigilante. No mammal has the right of judge, jury and executioner. Above all else, it is OUR JOB to uphold that part of the law and make sure that those criminals see their day in court."

Nick sipped his coffee by his desk. These thoughts muddled his mind. He was duty sworn to uphold the law when he became an officer at the Z.P.D. and so far, nothing ever got in the way to change that simple fact. However, this was entirely different.

"I understand that Judy", Nick sighed, "but it's just that I've never had the lines of the law appear so blurred. I mean, have you seen the news? Mammals all over Zootopia are either praising or bashing him."

Judy could see the sorrow on his face. It was easy to see how this was upsetting him. Having to question your own moral ethics and uphold the law may take a lot out of you.

"Nick", she confided, as she rubbed his paw.

"You're right though, Judy. We are going to do our job and bring him in. We all took an oath and we'll do what it takes to bring him down and have him see his day in the courtroom", he said drastically.

"Good answer!", Bogo intruded.

The deep, commanding voice of the cape buffalo caused both small mammals to jump in their seats.

"Oh sir, you gave us a fright", said Judy, who clutched her chest.

With a gruff, he asked, "What's the final words on our vigilante?"

Judy sighed, stretched and read her report, "Vigilante presumed to be male, small to medium sized mammal, reported with white fur by what little witnesses we found."

Bogo grunted and shrugged, "SO?"

Judy sipped on Nick's coffee and cleared her throat to continue, "First initial murders took place in Savanna Central on the alley of 44th and Sterling, with six mammals killed. However, further investigation lead to the fact of the six mammals being lieutenants of all different small-time gangs in the district lead us to believe that they were all called to the same location by the murderer as a trap."

Chief Bogo glanced over at Nick, who struggled to keep his eyes open.

"Why don't I hear you reading some of your own case, Wilde?!" Bogo snapped.

Nick jolted and rolled his chair over towards Judy's computer. Whatever feelings that were overcoming him earlier were suddenly pummeled out of him by the buffalo's pungent voice.

Nick took back his coffee, gulped it and continued where the bunny left off, "Witnesses, although slim, report murderer using either an axe or hammer as the weapon of execution, but the victim's wounds report showing at least two weapons being used."

Chief Bogo held out his hoof to stop him. He cracked his neck from side to side and gave his thoughts into the matter.

"Let's cut the rest and skip to the part you were briefed about this morning!" Bogo commanded.

Nick scrolled down the report and read the newest entry, "This morning reported twenty-one deceased drug traffickers in the district of Sahara Square, with locations scattered across thirty city blocks."

Judy looked up at Chief Bogo and saw the contempt in his eyes. He knew something that they didn't, and she was just hoping that he would at least open up in some way to give them a clue.

Finally, Chief Bogo raised his hoof again to stop him, "Wilde, Hopps, get everyone back to the briefing room, now!"

Nick let out a sigh and wiped away the sweat on his brow. Judy couldn't believe that he would just stop them mid-report and walk away.

"And you two", Bogo said, as he turned back to face the duo, "Good job!"

As the two relished themselves in the once-in-a-lifetime compliment by the stern buffalo, they informed whoever they could to make their way back to the briefing room. After ten minutes, the briefing room was as packed as it had been earlier that morning, if not more so than before.

"Alright sit!" Bogo shouted, "Thanks to Hopps and Wilde, we have a general idea of what our vigilante looks like and what he uses to shorten the lives of criminals with. Now we have an informant who has given us the location of this crazed mammal's location of his next hit."

Many of the mammals were taken back by the sudden turn of events. Something about all of this just seemed too easy.

Bogo continued to elaborate, "From what patrols have reported the past two days, gang activity has been affected to change with this killer. It seems they want us to snag him off first. From what internal affairs has told us, the gangs have set up decoys to lure him out in the open so that either we get him, or they do."

Judy and Nick looked at each other, for they had a feeling that whatever was about to come out next wasn't something very pleasant.

"That means that we have a sting tonight!" Bogo shouted, "You heard me right, a sting! Tonight's main target is the alley of 23rd and Cheshire. Yes, it also means that everyone will more than likely be pulling double shifts. No one ever said this was going to be pleasant, but we've got a murderer to catch and THIS is our only window of opportunity!"

 **00:57  
Alley of 23** **rd** **and Cheshire**

Jake skulked his way across the rooftops, as he carefully kept his shaded red eyes in the alley below. There were about five mammals that he kept his sights on.

 _I don't know why the hell the gangs here got the urge to wage war on me back in Savanna Central. I figured they would try to hunt me in Sahara Square, but it looks like they keep surprising me. Looks like they're just trying to find ghosts anyway._

Softly, he chuckled. The mere thought that these petty gangs only settled their differences to find an enemy that they couldn't see, nor understand. It was just sickening to his stomach.

"Time to take out the trash", he said to himself as he leapt from the roof and down the fire escape below.

As soon as Jake landed on the ground, ready to face the gang mammals before him, they all ran away and out of the alley. Suddenly, he felt exposed.

 _Oh fuck, those were decoys!_

Suddenly, two enormous blinding spotlights illuminated the entire alley and Jake himself.

"FREEZE! DON'T MOVE! PUT YOUR PAWS IN THE AIR!" were the commands of most of the officers, who held the arctic wolf in their iron sights.

Slowly, Jake placed his paws above his head, lowered himself to his knees and waited for the nearest officer to place him in cuffs. However, he was stunned to hear the pawsteps of a certain rabbit behind him.

"Jake?!" Judy called, "I-I can't believe you did this! How could-how-"

Nick finished for her, "How could do this? I don't know what it was that got you into this mindset, but you've taken it WAY beyond the battlefield, Jake! You've let us down! You let me down!"

Jake winced at he comments; today wasn't going to be the last day of his reckoning.

Judy stomped her foot rapidly and grabbed her cuffs, "I'm sorry, Jake, but you've brought this on yourself."

As soon as he felt the cold metal touch his wrists, Jake sweep kicked both Nick and Judy and tumbled them to the ground. He quickly ran on all fours and leaped over the police cruisers that blocked the end of the alley.

"This is Officer McHorn, we've got suspect moving North along Cheshire"

Jake ran for many blocks, desperate to avoid capture from the chasing officers. Eventually, he found his way to the large fountain in front of the Z.P.D.

 _Damn, out of options. I'm sure they've probably cut off all other routes as well. Why the hell did I decide to go North?_

Completely surrounded, Jake was back in the original position he was caught in. Quickly, he plunged his tomahawk and knife in the concrete of the fountain. He lay on his chest with hands over his head and again waited for another officer to arrest him. Unbeknownst to the many officers, they couldn't see the small wrist movement of adrenaline injected into his fur.

Chief Bogo called over the radio, "MOVE IN, NOW!"

Three rhinos moved in, tranq guns drawn, to apprehend the wolf. McHorn held down his feet, whilst the other two held down his hands and proceeded to cuff him. The sound of the cuffs filled Jake's sensitive ears and let him know to strike. He slid he right paw under the hoof of the rhino that held his left. In a quick motion, he yanked the rhino to a stumble and freed his paws.

"He's getting lose!" McHorn blared.

Jake punched the knees of McHorn and sent him down with a thud, then proceeded to knock the third rhino out with a 540 kick.

"DAMN IT, FIRE!" came the order from Bogo.

Jake B-Flipped and landed near Grizzoli, swept his legs and finished with a raised knee to the head. Many more of the other officers continued to fire their pistols, but Jake shielded himself behind the body of the polar bear. As he heard the firing slow itself, he continued to assault the other officers with a barrage of sweeps, flying kicks, high knees and evasive flips.

"THAT'S IT, HE'S MINE!" Bogo screamed.

Jake stood as a board at the charging buffalo. It took less than ten seconds to jump and hook his legs around Bogo's neck, before he used the force of his legs to bring the strong buffalo to a stiff landing on the concrete with his head. Bogo was down, but not out for the count.

Judy held back Nick, "I'm going in!"

"Wait! Judy, NO!", responded the scared red fox.

Judy was a fight for Jake, but another few seconds passed, and he merely used another B-Flip to out-maneuver her quick strikes. He then used both paws to push against her chest and delivered a very strong tornado kick to her abdomen. Judy felt back towards Nick and groaned in pain. Nick held her head up and rubbed her abs. He knew he was alone in this matter. This fight was something only HE knew how to stop. Not even the other officers surrounding the rest of the district would be able to stop him like this.

"Let you down! Is that what I did, Nicky?!" the red eyed wolf shouted.

Nick grimaced, "You did, Jake! You know you're not the good guy here, right? This isn't going to fix everything with this city, it's just creating more problems!"

Jake walked back to the fountain, grabbed his prized weapons and placed them back into his belt. His murderous gaze was struck profusely at Nick, who nearly shivered at the sight. Nick knew what was about to happen to him and thus removed his blue collared shirt and tie.

Judy looked up to see the daring vulpine, "What are you doing, Nick?!"

"WILDE!" Bogo ordered, while he picked himself off the cracked stone, "DON'T EVEN THINK OF TAKING HIM BY YOURSELF!"

Nick and Jake shared a quick glance of each other's eyes and then moved in to finish their fight. To everyone's amazement, their witty fox officer was somehow almost mimicked the movements of the blood-drunk arctic wolf. Somehow or another, he knew martial arts and, yet he didn't even bother to mention it.

Judy was in awe, "Nick…."

The wolf and fox both spun their legs in kicks and hurdles. Both seemed to be familiar with their style of fighting. Even through all of the punches, knees, and elbows, Nick could see that he was still losing. Jake must have continued his training, but Nick stopped short which gave him the disadvantage. Finally, the two, in unison, delivered unending Armada Kicks in one direction and then opposite. When it appeared neither side was gaining ground, Jake gave a high boot to the fox's chest.

 _I've got one shot at this_ , thought Nick.

As soon as the boot connected to his fur, Nick jumped and dealt a very fast 540 kick and sent the wolf flying toward a light pole. Jake reared himself back up, but before he could get back in the fight, it was over. Judy had already cuffed his foot to the light pole. The rabbit breathed in a sigh of relief and lay back on the ground, as the other officers finally seemed to recover.

Jake looked back at his now cuffed foot and spoke to the exhausted rabbit, "Good move!"


	3. Chapter 3: You and Me

**AN:/ First of all, it's been almost a year since I've last updated this story and I'm glad to say that it's great to be back publishing. If anyone would like me to continue on this story, please leave any reviews, comments or gripes and I'll be sure to read them accordingly. Many of the issues that Jake will be going through in this chapter are actually issues that I have dealt with within this past year, which explains my prolonged absence. Also, I will again be doing these chapters with a song as a recurring theme. The song of this chapter is, "You and Me" by Distrion & Electro-Light. Play the song during the escape scene if you want to hear what I was hearing whilst writing. And with that, let's get on with the story!**

"Damn you wolf! You just had to pummel me on the ground and give me a headache!"

The voice of Chief Bogo blared into the small concrete room, as Jake sat at the uncomfortable metal table in the middle of the room with his legs crossed and paws handcuffed to the metal ring in the center. The smell of dark burned coffee invaded his nostrils from the small foam cup that sat at the end of the table opposite of him.

Bogo slammed his hooves on the table, "How many have you officially killed?! Are you working for someone?! And finally, WHERE DID YOU LEARN TO FIGHT LIKE THAT?!"

Jake kept a paw to his chin and stared at the corner of the dull room. Aside from the shouts of the buffalo, the interrogation room was rather quiet to him. The eluding silence from Jake was enough for Bogo and he had eventually had enough.

"Alright, if you're not going to cooperate with me, then how about we just bring out someone else with your kind of attitude and has more facts than myself to put you away for the rest of your miserable life", the stern cape buffalo voiced.

The second Bogo finished his sentence, came an arctic fox who appeared to have red appendages. She blissfully entered the bland interrogation room with a sass and strutted her way towards the buffalo.

"Thanks, Chief, but I got it from here", the artic fox said with an enigmatic grin.

Her pink and black sweater were the first thing Jake laid his gaze upon, mainly due to the cleavage area being exposed on the garment, but it still contained a collar around the neck. Her legs moved with a grace with her short skirt and the clack of heeled boots that reached her knees. What captured his attention next was the thick manila folder in her arms.

Bogo gave a huff as he stepped out of the door, "Fine Vex, I've had enough of his arrogance of the law and authority for one day. If you think you can break him out of his silent treatment, be my guest!"

As if on que, a loud bang came from the two-way glass on the opposite side of the room. Along with it was muffled tones of shouts and commands. Bogo turned his head and strode his way towards the observation area to find his least favorite fox, Nick, banging on the glass.

"Don't let her in there, get her out! He'll kill her!" he barked with bloody palms.

Bogo reared up behind Nick and pulled him back in a headlock to restrain the agitated fox.

"Wilde! Get your head out of your ass and-"

Nick cut off Bogo with his last bit of breath, "He has the key to those cuffs!"

Bogo dropped Nick with wide eyes and sprinted back to the door of the room.

Vex threw the thick folder on the table with little force, but yet it still caused a loud slam. She adjusted her chair and gave the most perplexed grin.

"Don't even think about getting out of those cuffs that I know you're trying to get out of and whilst you're at it, just go ahead and hand over the key!"

The words caught Jake by surprise, his eyes widened in a quick sense of fear. In his own mind, she had gotten better at catching on to his motives than he realized. Jake released his grip on the key hidden under his wrist and slid it over to the sassy fox.

Bogo, whom heard Vex's words from the door, released his hoof from the doorknob and made his way back towards the observation room to confront the agitated red fox. As Chief Bogo entered, he gave a mighty thunderous command.

"Everyone who isn't a fox in this room, GET OUT!"

Whilst the other officers made their way to hurry and leave the room, as not to upset the already frustrated buffalo, Judy grabbed Nick's arm.

"Hey, he's the chief and he's harsh, but just be honest and clear with him. He'll be willing to work with you", said the small rabbit as she gave him a small punch on the arm.

"Don't worry about me, Carrots. I'll meet up with you back in the break room. Save me a cup of that dark roasted poison you call coffee on the burner if you please", Nick said sarcastically.

Finally, Judy left the room and shut the door behind her, but her curiosity kept eating away at her mind and she kept an ear on the door.

"Before I start, I'm going to say this once", Chief Bogo stated, "You tell me everything that I'm about to ask fully, truthfully and without the sarcasm, then I'll be sure to NOT recommend you for suspension or possible termination for having relations with our current felon."

Nick was in shock at the mention of termination, but kept his eyes trained on the buffalo as to not show his hesitation. He knew this was coming, he knew he would be questioned, more than just a usual debrief. He knew it, but yet it still came as unexpected at the worst time and in the worst way. He gave a slight sigh and nodded his head to give the go ahead.

"We all know, from what you told us that he was your friend beforehand, but it seems there's more than that. What all aren't you telling us, Wilde?"

Nick glanced at Vex through the glass and spoke, "She's my cousin, Chief."

"Yes, we know that already now get back to the damn topic at hand!" Bogo shouted.

"They were also married awhile ago", the disheartened fox exclaimed.

Bogo glanced through the glass, then back at Nick.

"You're telling me that our perp in there was married to your cousin before this whole catastrophe?", Bogo questioned as he pointed toward the glass.

Nick took a gulp and replied, "Yes, sir. They actually divorced a few months ago."

Chief Bogo wiped his face with his hoof, he had to take in this new information with a grain of salt.

The buffalo sighed, "I should honestly have you suspended already with this new information. You DO realize that our detectives could very well put you as the choreographer of this entire case because of your relations to him?!"

Nick winced and bit his lip, he hadn't thought of this before. He knew this was going to be bad, but he didn't expect it to be THIS bad. However, something in the back of his mind told him to hope for the best and prepare for the worst. Nick recovered his gaze and was ready to accept his defeat, although surprisingly it didn't arrive from Bogo's next words.

"HOWEVER, considering what you did to bring him down and save our hides, I wouldn't let that happen. So, for that action, you have my thanks. Just don't you go on telling that to anyone outside of here after we leave this room because I'll deny every word of it."

Nick grinned and caught his breath, unaware that he had held it in during his preparation of the worst to come.

"Now that leads me to my next question", Bogo continued, "Where in the hell did you learn to fight? We watched you out there. You, and I mean only YOU, were able to take him on. You were mimicking his movements almost to the letter. That leads me to believe that you two had training together somewhere, am I correct in this assumption?"

Nick nodded, finally able to recapture his composure, "Yes sir, he and I received training together as teenagers in Capoeira, but honestly sir, I only took him down because I was able to score a lucky shot. He's become far more skilled than I have."

As if by sheer coincidence, Vex had asked Jake where he had learned to continue his training for fighting and caught the attention of Chief Bogo and Nick.

"I trained in Muay Tai and combined it with variations of Tai-Kwon-Do and Capoeira. I'm surprised you weren't able to pick up on that, my love", said Jake with hoarse sarcasm.

Vex fired back, but calmly, "We are not married anymore, Jake, so cut the crap and let's just move on to business."

At the cold harshness of her words, Jake's mind felt like it had twisted in two. Suddenly he was reminded in growing flashbacks of a good marriage and simple life that he had lived previously.

 _Kill them! Kill her! Fucking kill yourself YOU STUPID WEAK PRICK!_

Every thought in Jake's mind was nothing but his own voice that screamed at himself. With what little adrenaline left in his blood stream, he wanted to make use of whatever he could and quietly concocted himself a plan.

Suddenly a call from Clawhauser was heard over the intercom, "Vex, it's Clawhauser! I've just gotten word from the Commissioner that the Mayor has secured his release! He's been free to go!"

"What!?", Bogo screamed behind the non-reversing glass, "Why the hell wasn't I informed about this until just now!? How in the hell is he letting someone go after he's killed almost 30 mammals?!"

"I was just informed about it myself sir, I had no idea until now. I was paged here at the front desk!", the exasperated cheetah tried to explain.

In the heat of the moment, with the little adrenaline remaining, Jake pressed as much as he could against the steel locks of the pawcuffs. He strained hard enough until he pushed the locking teeth in the cuff back by a single digit, enough to be able to give himself enough room to slide his front paws through. After a quick grunt and tug, Jake freed his left paw and used the right as leverage to throw the table across the small, concrete room. With that both paws were free, and Jake kicked open the door that lead to the hallway of other interrogation rooms. He was unsure of where to go, but in his mind, if you follow the sound of office phones and chatter, you'll more than likely find your way towards the lobby.

Bogo unbuckled his belt and sprinted towards Jake at full speed, with Nick just behind him. Many other ZPD officers attempted to stop Jake from escaping the building, but as they tried to stop him, Jake would merely maneuver around their larger bodies or deliver a painful wall-kick. Eventually he made his way to the main lobby of the ZPD and finally felt the exhaustion hit his lungs and body, but most of all, Jake felt trapped.

"There's nowhere to go, just give it up!", screamed the water buffalo in fury.

Jake's eyes burned in a hatred of that he had not felt in a long time, perhaps not even sense his time spent overseas.

Jake finally screamed in his madness, "You want to go for round two, old buffalo butt? Let's go! I'll kick your ass even without your lackeys getting in the way!"

Nick knew he had to say something or else one of his comrades would surely die, "Jake, I couldn't possibly know how or what you feel, but I can tell you now that what you've been doing isn't the right answer!"

The arctic wolf, with a few tears in his eyes, gave a senile chuckle and responded, "How could you possibly know or hope to know how I feel Nicky? Your cousin leaves me, my friends overseas are all dead, and when I finally get a place of my own, all I see are petty thieves and scumbags all around the neighborhood! You think I haven't tried doing things the legal way?! NOTHING EVER HAPPENS!"

"Jake, you need help!"

Again, Jake chucked, "Sounds to me that I'm needing more than help Nick. You're making it sound as if I'm needing asylum!"

Nick shook his head, "Jake-"

"Enough of the bullshit!", he interrupted, as he glanced around the lobby to see every officer in the building with their tranq pistols on his body.

 _Finally, we get to be somewhat at peace!_

"If I die here, so be it!", he said, as he accepted his fate.

Suddenly, as if the coincidences refused to cease, the newly reinstituted Mayor Lionheart entered through the front doors, with his new advisors behind him.

"Chief Bogo!", Mayor Lionheart shouted, "Don't do anything to that wolf! He's to come with me immediately!

The water buffalo's reason had reached its limit and he shouted, "Why in the hell shouldn't I, Mayor? He is a murderer!"

The tall awkward lion calmly tried to explain to Bogo that he had orders from higher than himself to bring Jake into safe keeping. After several minutes and many harsh explanations and grunts later, Jake was allowed to leave by Chief Bogo and was taken into a completely blacked out limousine by Mayor Lionheart. As quickly as he had been put in the car, they sped off into the unknown.

Judy glanced at Nick near her, "I can't believe you didn't tell me about any of this Nick. Why didn't you let me know about Jake and your cousin, Vex?"

"It didn't seem important at the time", Nick said, "and I'm sure if I had gotten a divorce, I wouldn't want many mammals to know about it either. Though, if you're talking about how all this lead to Jake being the killer vigilante, I didn't have a clue, Carrots."

Judy nodded in agreement and gave her trusty fox and light punch on the arm, "Good job with Bogo earlier. I heard the conversation, great job, Slick."

Elsewhere, Jake sat comfortably in the fancy car and relaxed himself but refused to drop his guard.

Mayor Lionheart finally broke the silence, "I know you're wondering why it is that I set you free, Mr.?"

"Wolfsbane, Jacob Wolfsbane and yes, I'd very much like to know why the Mayor of the city is releasing a detained murderer", Jake asked.

Lionheart smirked and slowly responded, "Well, in one way, it's a small thank you for getting rid of major crime in the city, despite it being the wrong way to go about doing it, but between you and I, I admire what you've done."

Jake admired the compliment with a quick nod of acceptance.

Lionheart replied, "However that is only one of the reasons of why you've been released, my friend."

Jake heard the sudden click of the door locks and noticed a small chair, with an arctic shrew in a tuxedo, revolve around in the cupholder in-between the seats.

"So, you're the one that done it, eh?", Mr. Big elaborated, "You and I, we got some important business to discuss."


End file.
